XRD Analysis of Synthetic Diamond Powders Irradiated with Electrons

Powders of synthetic diamond with low strength were sorted on sets with a different grain size. The synthetic diamond sets had various crushing strengths and morphology. They were irradiated with high energy electrons (6.5 MeV, D=2×10¹⁹ cm¯²) and analyzed using X-ray diffraction (Cu K_α) before and after irradiation. As established from nonlinearity of the a(Θ)=f{R(Θ)} dependences and observed extra splittings in X-ray diffraction patterns (in addition to α₁-α₂ doublets), crystal lattice of synthetic diamond from different sets was variously distorted. Irradiation led to decreasing distortions more significantly, the higher the initial strength of the set was. The made conclusions coincide well with our previous results on synthetic diamond powders which were irradiated under various softer conditions with direct measurements of synthetic diamond crushing strength without X-ray diffraction analysis. X-ray diffraction allows to presort synthetic diamond of critically low relative mechanical strength as well as evaluate resistance of diamond crystal lattice against heavy irradiation and other external impacts.